February 7, 2010
Business, Cagayan de Oro City, Hotels, Mindanaoan Update, Reviews, Tourism, Travel, misamis oriental
Hello fellow Mindanawans! Planning a trip to CDO soon? Here’s a budget hotel in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao that you might be interested in.
Lamar Inn, located at the corner of JR Borja and Velez Streets (just a few blocks away from Divisoria, the heart of the city), is a downtown hotel that offers value for money. Conveniently located at the central business district of the City of Golden Friendship and owned and operated by VIP Hotel (which is located just right across the street), Lamar Inn CDO offers reasonably priced rooms and good amenities.
They have 14 tourist type rooms (P750.00 per night), 8 business type rooms (P850.00 per night) and two suites (P1,300.00 per night).
The business type room that we stayed in recently was air conditioned, had cable television, had a telephone and a hot beverage utility set.
Hence, it was easy for us to prepare coffee even in the middle of the night and early in the morning.
Our room also had hot and cold shower and a clean bathroom. We had clean towels and two bars of soap. No free shampoo but you can easily buy sachets from the reception desk. Bottled mineral water can also be bought at the reception area, by the way.
What I also liked about the business type room was the FREE wireless internet connection! On our first night of stay in Lamar Inn Cagayan de Oro, my wi-fi capable phone caught two wifi signals – Lamar’s and CGC (I reckon this stands for Canoy Group of Companies, the owners of Lamar Inn and yes, of VIP Hotel). I just asked for the security keys from the front desk and I was browsing the web in no time.
The hotel staff members were friendly, by the way, and they made sure that they kept our luggage safe (we had to leave our things for a few hours).
January 15, 2010
Announcements, Business, Cagayan de Oro City, Consumer, Corporate, Davao City, Headline, Mindanaoan Update, News, Society, Tourism, misamis oriental, northern mindanao
It looks like Cagayan de Oro City is now, more than ever, THE next place to watch out for here in Mindanao. Ayala Land Inc. (ALI) is set to build the biggest mall in Mindanao – the Ayala Mall CDO – and is set to allot a total of P4.5 Billion for the said project.
Ayala Mall CDO will be a shopping and recreation haven and will reportedly be right smack in the heart of the city.
Cagayan de Oro City Mayor Constantino Jaraula was quoted as saying that the Ayala Mall Cagayan de Oro “would make the city the major shopping destination in Mindanao as this will be the biggest mall in the region and will further boost our beloved city as a haven for investment.”
Ayala Mall CDO will even be larger than the P3 Billion Ayala Mall Davao City, reports say.
Ayala Mall CDO will occupy a large space along CM Recto Avenue (in a vacant lot in front of Gaisano City CDO).
The said Ayala property will also take up a portion of land along Corrales Avenue.
What do you think of this development?
September 26, 2009
Arts, Beauty, Mindanao, Mindanaoan Update, Photos, Tourism, Travel, Weddings, blogging, iligan city, misamis oriental, northern mindanao
So this Mindanao blog is finally back on track! 
If you’re a regular visitor of my humble blog, you may have noticed a couple of changes in the past few days. Because my blog has turned one year old, I wanted a new, fresher look. Hence, after hours of searching for a good, clean and functional Wordpress theme, I finally settled for this Typogriph theme. Do you guys like it? I do! 
I think my posts are easier to read now and my blog looks wide! My old theme, Revolution Church by Brian Gardner served me so well and I would like to thank Brian for letting me have a free copy (the Church theme can now be purchased at a reasonable price) and for letting me use it for an entire year. Thank you very much, Brian!
I’ve also installed additional useful Wordpress plugins – one of which is the retweet Wordpress plugin. As you may notice, you can now “retweet” all of the blog posts found here in Mindanaoan. Check out the buttons found on the upper right. So if you’re a Twitter junkie like me (I’ve had my account for two years now, I think), it’s now easier for you to share each Mindanaoan blog entry Go on, try and retweet this! [and follow me on Twitter, too!]
Also, in celebration of my blog’s first year anniversary, I will launch a blog contest very soon. I want it to be “unique” – something that could benefit real Mindanaoans. Please stay tuned.
In the meantime, allow me to share with you a few of the photos I took during a pre-nup shoot. Recently, I served as a 2nd photographer for my brother Bon, who’s a professional wedding and fashion photographer in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao. Post processing credits go to him, by the way. More photos can be found at his official website.
We shot these engagement photos at both Xavier Estates in CDO and then at the Initao National Park, Initao, Misamis Oriental. If you’re an avid photographer like me, I assure you that you’ll like the place! The Initao National Park is a 57 hectare natural forest with diverse flora and fauna. Initao is about half an hour away from Cagayan de Oro City. Entrance to the park is 10 pesos a pop.
By the way, if you need a wedding photographer in Cagayan de Oro City or in any other areas in Mindanao, please don’t hesitate to CONTACT ME. My brother and I would love to assist you on your special day!
July 21, 2009
Advocacy, Bisaya, Bukidnon, Cagayan de Oro City, Corporate, Events, Features, Internet, Media, Mindanaoan Update, Musings, News, Opinion, Personal, Personalities, Photos, Society, Technology, Tourism, Travel, blogging, northern mindanao
Can you still remember that mixed feeling of anticipation, eagerness and curiosity — much like the feeling you had on your very first day in school? That was exactly how I felt when I attended a recent bloggers networking event in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao. Although it wasn’t my first time to attend one, I still felt like a bright-eyed girl who was so excited to learn new things, to know more updates on the goings-on in the blogosphere and to meet new people in a new town – all of whom I felt shared my love and belief on the power and beauty of the Internet and blogging. Plus I was able to invite 6 friends from Bukidnon and all of my 3 brothers! HOW COOL WAS THAT?
Mindanaoan attended the 1st Digital Filipino Club and Cagayan de Oro Bloggers Meet-up last July 17, 2009. Generously hosted by Digital Filipino Club member Syntactics, the event saw the participation of roughly 75 bloggers, IT industry players and media practitioners from Cagayan de Oro City and Bukidnon. Of course, the CDO Bloggers were there! (yey, represent! ) It was drizzling that night but that didn’t stop the netizens from attending.
Participants paying attention…see that HP netbook on the bottom left with tons of stickers? That’s mine!
One of my brothers, Nathaniel, and I have actually attended a similar networking event last year in our hometown Davao City (which was also organized by Digital Filipino and sponsored by PAGCOR Davao) We’re a bit excited with this CDO leg, though, since it’s a relatively new, fresh group plus there were stakeholders present during the event.
The event that night kicked off with Syntactics CEO Stephanie Caragos welcoming all of us:
And then each and every participant had the chance to introduce himself/herself. We were also made to talk about what we do and about our blogs. My brother, who runs a popular tennis blog (it’s only a few months old but damn, it attracts so much daily traffic! His Tennis Guru blog also got cited in a CNN Sports Illustrated article), made quite an impression (he was then called “the tennis guy” all night long). I didn’t do bad, either…I think I shamelessly plugged Mindanaoan! (which is still less than a year old, truth be told) My two other brothers were able to catch up a few minutes later, thankfully. My videographer brother Ben and my photographer brother Bon also invited the participants to drop by the Kasalan sa Kagay-an 2009 event.
Janette Toral of Digital Filipino (yes, THE Janette Toral…the very same person who founded the Philippine Internet Commerce Society and who helped lobby for the passage of the E-Commerce Law) then gave an update on the Top 10 Emerging Influential Blogs of 2009 (deadline is on July 30, 2009!) as well as on the Digital Filipino Web Awards 2009.
What I liked about Janette’s presentation was the clear diversity of blogs and niches that have gained ground in recent years. Blogs these days are no longer just personal online diaries. They’re now more informative. Blogs nowadays are more colorful, more “well-prepared”…blog entries are no longer just posted for posting sake, kumbaga. Bloggers are now keener of what their readers like and want. Bloggers now take “better” photos, they do research and really go out of their way to write something that’s really worth reading.
Janette then introduced one of the winners of the 2007 Emerging Influential Blogs awards – Aileen Apolo. Aileen lang naman is the country consultant of Google (can you say WOW?) Now I have a little confession to make — I’ve been an avid reader of her blog since 2005/2006. I remember feeling happy when Miguel (her son) won something or sad when she felt lonely and confused. And then when I found out that she had Twitter, I immediately “followed” her tweets. I was also very elated when I found out that she finally found Mr. Right! *aah, love*Aileen’s engaged!
After Aileen’s talk, it was Syntactics‘ turn to share their experience. Syntactics has, for two years in a row, bagged prizes at the Digital Filipino Web Awards. Kagay-anons must be so proud to have a company like this in their city!
Syntactics also informed all of us about its advocacy arm – LetIThelp. True to the mission of social enterprises which is “bridging social opportunity into sustainable reality innovatively, effectively and efficiently,” LetIThelp.org helps the local community by selecting deserving fresh graduates in Mindanao and helping them find right opportunities in their chosen fields of profession. Seeing that there are more and more outsourcing job opportunities here in the Philippines, LetIThelp.org aims to help develop a ready pool of trained and experienced IT professionals. They do this by conducting FREE seminars to colleges and universities in Northern Mindanao to further educate the IT graduating students and to prepare them on the tough life outside the classroom. What’s also commendable about LetIThelp.org’s advocacy is that they will focus more on the hiring of underprivileged fresh graduates coming from Mindanao. A Mindanao based company helping Mindanaoans? That deserves two thumbs up!
Dinner was then served then the networking opportunity began!
Cagayan de Oro City, by the way, will play host to the much-awaited Mindanao Bloggers Summit 3 (MBS CDO) on October 24, 2009. Hence, the bloggers event that night did pave the way for bloggers, stakeholders and other supporters to finally meet and exchange ideas. That 1st Digital Filipino and CDO Bloggers Meet-Up sure provided the platform for new connections to be established and for existing ones to be strengthened further! Two thumbs up!
There was a raffle draw that night as well. Two of my brothers won! The Tennis Guru guy got an AyosDito t-shirt (which ultimately went to me because it was a girlie shirt) and my other bro got an AyosDito notebook plus pen (cool!)
By the way, Janette also gave a post-event treat — the first 10 bloggers who attended the event and who’d become a fan of Jupiter Suites’ Facebook Page would get free pouches from Jupiter Suites – a budget hotel in Makati City! Now with all those treats, freebies and amazing networking opportunities, who wouldn’t want to become a blogger and start attending networking events like these, yes?
To Janette, Digital Filipino, Syntactics and to my fellow Mindanao bloggers – thanks for making the event memorable and definitely one for the blogs! 
Check out the very busy bloggers meeting their fellow bloggers and IT industry players:
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Region 10 becoming Mindanao’s dominant regional economy
January 28, 2010
Bukidnon, Business, Cagayan de Oro City, Camiguin, Commentary, Consumer, Features, Lanao del Norte, Lanao del Sur, Mindanao, Mindanaoan Update, Misamis Occidental, News, Technology, Travel, iligan city, misamis oriental, northern mindanao
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Hi guys, the following is a pretty interesting read. This guest blog entry is from Mindanaoan’s friend, Mike Banos, a respected journalist based in Cagayan de Oro City, Mindanao. Read, read, read
Since Iligan City and Lanao del Norte were integrated back into Northern Mindanao (Region 10) in 2002, the resulting region has remained Mindanao’s biggest economy. Recent years indicate it is now pulling away to attain a position of dominance among the island’s regional economies.
A quick look at the economic accounts of the island’s Gross Regional Domestic Product (GRDP) shows that before the realignment of regions in 2002, Region 10 trailed the Davao Region (Region 11) in GRDP. However, since Iligan and Lanao del Norte rejoined Region 10 and some parts of the Davao region were re-aligned to the SOCCSKARGEN region, Davao has trailed Region 10 in current and adjusted GRDP.
The gap between the two region’s GRDPs in current prices wavered from P9.8-billion (B) in 2003, dropping to P7.8-B in 2005 before accelerating to P25.1-billion by 2008. However, when the differences are adjusted for 1985 constant prices (to negate the effects of inflation on prices), the figures graphically illustrate that the gap between Regions 10 and 11 has been exponentially increasing from P2.3-B in 2003 to P4.9-B in 2006 and further to 7.2-B in 2008.
Latest available data generated by the Economic and Social Statistics Office of the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) from primary and secondary data sources gathered from various data producers in the country shows Region 10 with a 2008 GRDP of P362.4-billion vs. P337.3-B for Region 11 (based on current prices) or P71.7 billion vs. P62.99 billion based on 1985 constant prices, said Linnito Pascual, officer-in-charge/regional division head of the NSCB-10 office.
An analysis of the economic accounts of both regions reveal similarities as well as contrasts.
Continue reading →